Former Nicholson Mayor Ronnie Maxwell was sentenced to serve time in the Jackson County jail for using taxpayer money to pave private property, Channel 2 Action News reported Thursday.

Maxwell pleaded guilty in July to one charge of theft by taking related to using taxpayer money for personal purposes, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

In 2015, Maxwell used $10,000 in special purpose local-option sales tax money to pave his mother’s driveway.

The former mayor of the Jackson County city said the paved blacktop used to be a public road, but a judge said the 68-year-old betrayed the public’s trust, Channel 2 reported.

Maxwell was sentenced to 90 days in jail, nine months of house arrest and four years of probation, but because he is in poor health and has a surgery planned, Maxwell began house arrest Thursday and will head to jail in October.

He admitted to the judge he’d made a “stupid mistake,” Channel 2 reported.

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